Simran is an upcoming Bollywood drama film, directed by Hansal Mehta, produced by Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Kumar, Shailesh R. Singh, and Amit Agarwal. The film stars Kangana Ranaut, Soham Shah, Mark Justice, Hiten Kumar and Esha Tiwari Pande in crucial roles. The film revolves around a Gujarati lady settled in the United States of America, who gets involved in crime. The film does seem quirky and very racy, and definitely very humorous. Now, Hansal Mehta usually does not rely on music to carry his films forward, as is evident from the fact that out of his recent film, ‘Shahid’ had just one song (not even released properly by a music label), and ‘Aligarh’ had no songs. Then there was ‘Citylights’, which, due to it being a joint venture with the Bhatts, had a stellar album by Jeet Gannguli. This film seems to be Hansal’s lightest film in a long time, and the result is that we can read the names of Sachin-Jigar in the credits, for music. Now, roping in Sachin-Jigar can’t mean anything except that Hansal wants great music for this film, doesn’t it? Accordingly, Sachin-Jigar have scored six songs for the film, and very situational too. Still, before I reveal much, let’s see how the music fares!!

It must be so difficult to compose for seven film albums in a year, but Sachin-Jigar are up and about, composing for the fourth album, which happens to be ‘Simran’. The first song matches Sachin-Jigar’s roots, as it is a Gujarati track by soul, but Punjabi by sound. Actually, it’s a beautifully thought out fusion of Gujarati and Punjabi, something nobody would ever be able to do this well and this seamlessly! The composition is perfectly suitable for a song that should make you get up and dance, and the desi touch, both Punjabi and Gujarati, add to the enjoyability of the song. Both the mukhda and the antara have been composed on the same tune, and Sachin-Jigar follow the trend to keep the song short and more appealing. The short length never hampers the beauty of the song. The hookline is amazing as well, but it is the arrangements that makes the song sound amazing. When it starts, you may be quick enough to dismiss it as yet another typical Punjabi number, added into the album just to be another ‘London Thumakda’ (Queen), but later you realise the magic, when the Gujarati dhols begin to awe you. The brass band (Trumpets by Kishore Sodha) is used very nicely here, and without sounding stale or heard-before, it provides a nice and fresh touch. But what is really amazing, is that wonderful flute (Naveen Kumar) which has been played in a very typical Gujju style, and it does nothing but inspire you to learn how to play flute! 😛 But I’m sure this kind of a flautist would take years to become so good! The vocals are amazing. At first, I thought Guru Randhawa has been chosen just because he has a history of many pop songs with T-Series, but turns out, he has given the Punjabi touch to the song very genuinely, and keeps aside all his pop song background for this one filmy song! Jonita is a surprise package; singing in Gujarati and all — though I think she is Gujarati. Anyway, she sings the old lady portions with as much ease as she does the lead heroine’s portions! In fact, she sings the Dadi Maa portions in Gujarati even better!! One thing I didn’t enjoy was the drunk part at the end, it seemed forced. Vayu’s lyrics are some of the most positive wedding song lyrics I’ve seen in Bollywood, a place where people come to weddings only to eat, drink and dance. But here, Vayu makes the characters sing things like “LED Jaisi Karna Glow Tum!” I swear, it is one of the most positive blessings I’ve heard in a Bollywood wedding song, and so less dramatic than the blessings they used to sing in songs like ‘Maahi Ve’ (Kal Ho Naa Ho) and all! All in all, this is a very enjoyable Gujju-Punjabi fusion, with amazing arrangements to accompany the energetic vocals!!

The next song starts off as a mellow composition, with piano notes almost assuring you that this is going to be a sad number. However, it is wonderful to see how Sachin-Jigar seamlessly change the mood of the song, making it uplifting and motivational as the song progresses. That is almost like a symbol infused into the song by Sachin-Jigar. The lyrics by Priya Saraiya talk about breaking free of restrictions, and flying freely — so Sachin-Jigar have probably structured the song in a way to resemble that, starting off very slowly, but breaking free subsequently! What a wonderful form the song takes on, once you realise that! Sachin-Jigar’s composition is nothing new, it is the usual Sunidhi pathos, but it works wonders even though it is heard-before. After all, it isn’t necessary for things to be complicated to like them, is it? The hookline is very motivating, as is the second antara, a sprightly conclusion to the otherwise soft song. It takes on a more energetic tempo and composition, and even has more energetic arrangements, since the electric guitars and drums truly break out in that part. The rest of the arrangements have a soothingly Western touch — starting off with amazing piano, progressing into a euphoric acoustic guitar-led arrangement, until the aforementioned second antara arrives. The interludes contain a wonderful “Oley Oley“, by a backing vocalist I suspect is Jonita Gandhi, she sounds exactly like her. This type of song nowadays, usually goes to Sunidhi, and she aces it, as always. It’s nice to see her finally getting recognised not only as a singer of those upbeat numbers she was terribly typecast for in the late 2000s. Priya Saraiya’s lyrics, as mentioned before, are motivating and uplifting, in the true sense! This is probably Priya’s best work in a long time! A beautiful song, with a simple and heard-before vibe, but still manages to impress monumentally!!

Rating: 5/5

3. Meet

The next song happens to be a very happy-go-lucky romantic song, sung by Arijit, the kind of song Sachin-Jigar have usually done many times with Atif. Since their songs with Arijit have always been unconventional and never-heard-before, this comes as a surprise, as it conforms to the regular Arijit school of romance. However, the composition is really charming, and has you hooked (at least to the hookline) in the first listen. In the subsequent listens you “try” to get hooked to the mukhda and antara. Sadly, I still can’t recall the tunes of these portions immediately, even after having listened to the song at least six times by now. Does that mean the song is bad? Not at all. The song is amazing. Sachin-Jigar weave magic even with those notes that evoke memories of compositions by other composers, but doesn’t really evoke memories of any song in particular. It has the charm of an old Bollywood song, and it is the kind of composition to which we would say “Ah, the nostalgia”, after listening to it after a long time somewhere in the future. It is for this reason that the song gets such a huge repeat value even though it isn’t hooking as such. The hook has wonderful variations Arijit takes not every time, so they remain exclusive, but you keep waiting for the times he does take those variations! The arrangements are just as soothing as the composition; again, a wonderful piano piece opens the song, coupled with a magical and fairy-tale-like strings portion, until the Acoustic guitars come in to lighten up the mood. The whole thing sounds so fulfilling with that wonderful composition. The guitar riff repeats throughout the song. The interlude has a nice flute portion, which keeps you listening, if not hooked. Arijit aces such songs, and does so yet again. Again, I must mention those wonderful aalaaps of his, in the hookline. Priya writes amazing lyrics here too, but here they’re quite simple, even more simple than ‘Pinjra Tod Ke’, and has a plain and straightforward theme — love. A charming love song, with simplicity ruling it.

A laugh riot arrives next, with a song that’s evidently about the main character trying to convince her father to let her stay single. There is actually very less by way of composition in the song, whatever little there is, just keeps repeating. The song is more like a rap, but it is the lyrics that hold it higher than it would have been. Vayu cracks you up with humorous lines that usually don’t find their way into songs; they are typical to scripts of rom-coms, but I find it very cool for them to find their way into a song. The production too, is good, but very repetitive again. Nevertheless, it goes with the unconventional nature of the lyrics. Shalmali Kholgade renders the rap with a feisty attitude, and Divya Kumar, relegated to the background does his one line well. Shalmali says the conversational portions of the song, at the beginning in such a funny, humorous way, that you start to get interested in the song due to her! Not a very fresh composition, but fresh lyrics and vocals, and even arrangements, which are sadly repeated too much!

The title song which we heard in the trailer is presented to us next, and it is this song which is actually the one that took the most time for me to like. The composition is very likeable, and has a lilting charm to it, in a very playful way, and has a charming ‘Barfi’-esque vibe to it, with the numerous sound effects and the whole description of the main character. The composition is great, if you look at it, but the arrangements confused me. Firstly, I was apprehensive about them because they were so similar to the ‘Barfi’ title track, with the whole accordion, mandolin and vocal sound effects, that I wasn’t sure if I liked them! I love ‘Barfi’, but I just felt weird about this song being so close to that. Later on, I started appreciating the arrangements, because of their lilting European touch and it was definite that Sachin-Jigar’s music would be inspired by Pritam’s as they were his disciples after all! Jigar has sung the song himself, and he has carried it out very well, and his raw, Un-autotuned vocals make the song even better as it sounds more natural and casual! The lyrics by Priya too, do a great job in acquainting us with the character of Simran, and her nature. A good title song, with an amazing arrangement.

Now this song released later, a few days after T-Series had released the “Full Album”. Coincidentally, it had flooded in Mumbai on that day, and they came with a song called ‘Baras Ja’ the same night, so maybe they were waiting. 😶 Anyway, the song is probably the best, and least simple song on the soundtrack. It has a very complicated tune, but in spite of that, it is so easily loveable! It starts with a very sublime sound of the matka, and again, a soothing flute portion (Sachin-Jigar have really gotten it right with the flute in this album!!) that ensures you that this song was worth the wait! The composition is beautiful, very 90s, and very earthy at the same time, being very soothing. The antara is very, very amazingly composed, and Sachin-Jigar mix elements of Pritam’s and Rahman’s style of composition, to present to us a song, that is rooted to Indian music, especially in the arrangements. The song is decorated with beautiful flute pieces, and the Indian percussion really helps give it that earthy feel. Wonderful piano notes provide the much needed Western touch to the song too, but the Indian-ness overpowers it. Mohit Chauhan reminds us of his ‘Tum Se Hi’ (Jab We Met) days, and croons the song just as mellifluously. He does get a beautiful song all to himself after a long time, after having two songs by Pritam in ‘Jab Harry Met Sejal’, sharing space with a co-singer in both of them. This is his first solo song after a long time! Priya Saraiya’s lyrics again, are very effective in bringing out the romance, and help give the song another thing to boast about. If it had been released earlier, it would’ve been easier for people to find, with all the other songs of the album, and got more audience! I am sad because this is definitely the best of the album!!

Rating: 5/5

Simran is yet another beautiful album from Sachin-Jigar. After three albums this year, out of which one was a multicomposer one, they strike gold yet again with their fourth one. I definitely think we can attribute the beauty of this album to one and only one reason — that it’s a solo composer album, and the director Hansal Mehta was clear in what he wanted. The freedom and creative liberty given to Sachin-Jigar is evident, because they’ve made some of the most beautiful melodies, without making things too complicated. That shows us how things can be made more attractive by following a simple formula — “Simple Rehne De!!”

Please note that all content of this blog is owned by Music Mastani. To reproduce without credit in your website or blog, prior consent should be taken from Music Mastani via either Twitter or Facebook.